Looks like the boarding group system will now automatically select friends and family on your MDE that have entered the park.
This was my issue the last time we went as we have 9 people on our MDE, and the last time we had 6 in our party. It was painfull to select them fast but not select an extra that wasnt with you as it would reject it, or forget someone that was with you etc…
Thank you Disney! This would have been so nice for our trip!
In all honesty though; isn’t it only saving us ONE extra click? Couldn’t you just click “select all” button before?
I guess I’m not understanding why it was taking people so long to individually click their party.
…oh, unless you have a large friends and family group and had to sift through to just those in the park?? I guess I can see why this could help.
I always “unfriend” or whatever you would call it on MDE before my trip to just include those of us going. This would also help during the fpp days…
Yes. This is exactly who it is helpful for.
In a way, the change is both positive and negative. It will actually make the entire process much more of a race again. For me, when I was there last week, I was able to have my BG in less than 3 seconds. 10:00:03, and I had boarding group 2. Why? Because I tapped “Join” then “Select All” and then joined. Bam bam bam! Done.
I was able to get such an awesome group because I already practiced this and knew it. But now with the change, EVERYONE will be able to just hit “Join” and then one more click to join. No delays whatsoever in the process. So, if you are going, be sure to have your clock counting down the seconds handy. In my case, my son’s phone was open to the clock app and as it it 9:59:55, we counted down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 10:00, click. (Note, I learned NOT to click right at 10:00, but the 1 second following, because sometimes if you try right as it switches to 10:00, you end up clicking (or, well, dragging possibly) a split second too soon.
With this change in place, now EVERYONE can be as quick about it because no one has to select their party.
This was previously a good tip for those who weren’t in the know. But now, it doesn’t matter. Keep 'em, don’t keep 'em…it doesn’t matter.
You can remove friends and family only if you have no plans with them. If there are future resort reservations or ADR’s that include that person, or if their profile holds a ticket, you cannot delete them. I’ve actually tried in past to delete people who I had travelled with, and it wouldn’t let me because it said they had a ticket, even though the ticket should have been used up. But for people like me who travel with different groups of people, like my recent two-part trip, the only option was to choose each individual.
Yes, it wouldnt let me remove 1 of my friends and family between the 10-2 BG drop.
I assume i could have called and had it removed and then turned around and went through the process off adding it back later.
This is way better for us.
Slightly off-topic, but related topic. I’ve read all over the internet about the best strategy for getting a BG. And there are a lot of different strategies.
What is the best strategy as of recent? Go through the “Join” button or keeping refreshing on the “join virtual queue” screen? Open the app before or open the app right at 10am?
I’m planning on having my wife and I both attempt to get a BG, but the second person stop after the first person gets in.
Either works just as well.
I’ve never once bothered to close and re-open the app. I know that was a strategy in the past, but the “Join” button or the dragging down to refresh (or whatever) works great no matter if the app has been running for hours or seconds, in my experience.
Of course, there is no harm in, before 10:00, re-starting the app itself as a precaution.
One thing I will say, however…is not to depend on the park WIFI. I turned off WIFI before attempting getting the BG because my phone would constantly lose connection from WIFI, or it would stay connected, but just wasn’t getting internet connection. I didn’t want to risk that happening just as I was attempting a BG. But the phone’s internet worked without a hitch for me. (I have AT&T.)
I had my daughters open the app about 9:57. I would be on world clock and at 9:59:50 would start a 10 second countdown. 10 … 9 … 8 … 7… 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … Go-Go-Go-Go-Go! I’m sure people around us thought I was crazy! One daughter on cell service and one on wi-fi. We ended up with BG 16, 10, and 12. Our last time was just this past Tuesday. 
So I am not convinced this makes any difference.
From several reports that I’ve seen, the new system since re-opening only showed your friends and family who were already in the park. Anyone else didn’t show up because they’re were not permitted to be included.
Therefore clicking “select all” vs having them checked off makes zero difference.
If that’s true, you’re right. You’re basically just eliminating a step for everyone in that case. But I can’t confirm, since I used “Select all” and the only people in the list were all the people I wanted. I’m not friends with anyone else to have needed to deselect anyone.
Not true. The last time we were there, 2 weekends ago I had to manually select each.
ETA: I hope the reference here is clear to Nicky’s response. If not, you’ll all think I’m just weird.
Well…actually, that’s a given, so I suppose it doesn’t matter!
But did you have people on your list who were not with you?
Same for me. I have probably about 10 people in my list (6 immediate family members, and aunts, my mom and sons GF who have come with us as well) so had to pick the people present out of the list.
Im going to delete my kids off for my next visit, a friend too! 
Yes.
Not true. I have 8 people on my friends and family, only 3 of us were in the park earlier this month. I still had to select the 3 of us that were there, or select all and then unclick the other 5.
Oh well, in that case this is a good change! Clearly people were confused about who they had linked in their MDE.